Tottenham on alert as Spartak Moscow move for Louis van Gaal

Tottenham face competition from Spartak Moscow in their attempts to make Louis van Gaal their manager for next season.

The current Holland coach is believed to have met Spurs chairman Daniel Levy last December, before Tim Sherwood was named successor to the sacked Andre Villas-Boas, and has said repeatedly that he is keen to move to the Premier League.

Former Chelsea manager Ruud Gullit even suggested over the weekend that Van Gaal’s proposed move to Spurs was “a done deal”, but Spartak hope to have their say with a lucrative offer for the 62-year-old, who will quit as Holland coach after the World Cup.

Furthermore, Standard Sport understands Van Gaal is also monitoring the situation at Manchester United, where David Moyes is under pressure after a series of below-par performances. Spartak, meanwhile, have been courting Van Gaal for some time, even making him a formal offer in 2011, which the former Ajax, Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach rejected.

Van Gaal is still likely to choose English football over the Russian game, not least because of the language barrier and because of the higher profile of the Premier League, but news of Spartak’s interest is another complication in what has been a difficult period for Levy.

Sections of the away support turned on Sherwood during the closing stages of yesterday’s 4-0 thumping at Liverpool, questioning why the head coach had chosen to spend most of the game in the stands, rather than in the dug-out with the rest of his coaching team.

Sherwood was motionless for much of the game as he sat two rows behind Levy. Rumours last night that Sherwood had been dismissed after the game were wide of the mark, and the pair are thought to have spoken most recently last week, when Sherwood informed his chairman of his summer transfer targets if he is retained as manager.

The chances of that are thought to be receding as Sherwood has been unable to reverse the trend of poor performances against the best clubs in the league. Standard Sport understands that Sherwood would also request a significant overhaul of the squad, recommending that a number of the players signed for more than £100million last summer be sold. Of the seven, only Christian Eriksen impressed with any regularity.

After the debacle at Anfield, players and staff stayed in the dressing room for almost an hour, where frank views were exchanged on the team’s inability to compete in most matches against the current top four this season.